The Director General of Police (Jails) BK Upadhyaya has pressed for action against JS Naik, the then superintendent of Nashik Central Jail who had forwarded the parole application of Sajjad Mughal to Nashik’s divisional commissioner. Naik now faces suspension, transfer or departmental enquiry, to be decided on Thursday.
Sajjad Mughal was convicted for murdering Pallavi Purkayastha, a lawyer from Wadala, Mumbai after she resisted his rape attempt in 2012.
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The Deputy Inspector General of Police (Jails), Rajendra Dhamne, supervised a probe into the incident of Mughal jumping parole, when he was allowed to leave jail for 30 days to apparently visit his ailing mother. His family paid Rs 7000 to this end, and since the Mughal has not returned. Dhamne, in his report, said that Naik “did not apply his mind” while forwarding Mughal’s parole application.
Mughal Was Naik’s Third Strike
He is already facing a departmental inquiry after two convicts from Nashik Jail jumped parole. The Mughal incident is the final nail in the coffin.A Mantralaya official on JS Naik speaking to Mumbai Mirror
Naik’s case has been further weakened by divisional commissioner Eknath Dawale’s statement to the authorities where he claims he only approved the parole application on the “recommendation” on Naik.
An Absconding Murderer and Bureaucratic Blame Game
While the Nashik police authorities claim the Uri Police in Jammu & Kashmir okayed Mughal’s parole application, the latter completely denies receiving any such communication.
Additionally, this incident would not have occurred had the Maharashtra government accepted a reforms proposal sent by the prisons’ department according parole-granting rights to only DIG-rank officials.
The new reforms being considered in the light of Mughal’s disappearance give the power to grant parole only to the prisons’ department. Until now, the divisional commissioner would have to approve the application, who was essentially an IAS officer from the Revenue department with no knowledge of the history of the crime of the criminal.
The report has been forwarded to the Principal Secretary (Home), Vijay Satbir Singh. The Mumbai Crime Branch and Nashik Police have launched a search for him, while the Mumbai Police are waiting to appeal in the High Court seeking death penalty for Mughal’s crime, this week.
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